Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk for fraud. The 58-year-old former CNN anchor is suing the 53-year-old richest man in the world over money he believes he is owed from his now-defunct talk show on X, which was cancelled after just one interview with Elon that got heated.
A lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California Thursday (August 1) reveals Don had been guaranteed $1.5 million for a one-year deal, via Page Six. Keep reading to find out more… Don allegedly would be paid $200,000 up-front with the incentives to renew the deal twice with the same terms and receive 60% of gross ad revenue, according to the complaint.
He also claimed the deal included $500,000 in advertising credits on X and thousands in “performance” payouts depending on how many followers he acquired.
Earlier in the year, when Don interview Elon about topics advertisers boycotting the platform because of a lack of censorship, Elon got notably angry. “Choose your question carefully, there’s five minutes left,” he warned before later scrapping the show. Don claimed in his suit that Elon never paid him, despite Elon allegedly using the journalist’s name and brand to “woo advertisers” to his platform.
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